[
Wesleyan Home Page
] [
WesMaps Home Page
] [
WesMaps Archive
]
[
Course Search
] [
Course Search by CID
]
| |
Crosslistings: CHUM 313 |
In modern culture, "performing a role" is the opposite of "being oneself," yet that very opposition suggests that performance paradoxically defines the self by exploring the boundaries between what we understand as "authentic experience" and what we "merely perform." In this course we will examine how the idea of performance functions within cultures to enable particular conceptions of the self and its relation to the social. We will begin by looking at premodern modes of performance, such as liturgy, oath-taking, and royal ceremonies. Such perfomances are meant to effect change in the performers as well as the audience by transferring power to a king or forming an alliance; they will thus allow us to consider the conceptions of self that ritual makes available. We will then follow the fortunes of these ritual institutions during the transition to modernity to see how drama evolves from liturgical ritual not merely as a literary genre, but as a cultural institution that represents and mediates changing understandings of the individual. Finally, we will compare these ideas of performance to contemporary examples of postmodern drama and performance art to theorize how these practices function in our culture.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2004
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459